Synthesis of inhibitors of DC-SIGN mediated infections

HIV infection is pandemic in humans and is responsible for millions of deaths every year. The discovery of new cellular targets that can be used to prevent the infection process represents a new opportunity for developing more effective antiviral drugs. On the poster, dendritic cell-specific ICAM-3 grabbing non-integrin (DC-SIGN), a lectin expressed at the surface of immature dendritic cells and involved in the initial stages of HIV infection, is described as a promising therapeutic target. The project is being developed within the European research Network CARMUSYS (http://www.carmusys.iiq.csic.es/). Herein we show the synthesis of a small library of derivatives of a dimannoside mimic recently reported by our laboratory.1 The mimic was functionalized with two identical amide groups, and a tetravalent presentation was obtained using a dendron as the polyvalent scaffold. The prepared amides exhibit DC-SIGN inhibition in micromolar range, what was confirmed by measurements using surface plasma resonance (SPR) technique.